River Estate 2009 Olive Oil Product Range
• Leccino • Tuscan Blend • Koroneiki • Chemlali • Picual • Frantoio • Picholene • Pendolino
• Table Olives • Dukkah • 2009 Notes

River Estate Extra Virgin Olive Oil 750ml bottle (standing) and 250ml bottle with wooden gift box

The River Estate Extra Virgin Olive Oils in 250ml, 750ml bottles, 1 litre and 4 litre cans, and table olives

River Estate Oil Bottle Sizes
Our olive oils are available in the following sizes:

• 250ml dark bottle - $20.00
• 250ml dark bottle in wooden gift box - $25.00
• 750ml dark bottle - $40.00
• 1 litre can with pourer - $48.00
• 4 litre can with pourer - $140.00
• Larger volumes are available on request.
• Small Gift Pack: 1 x 250ml bottle of your choice and either a 200 gm jar of olives or a 60 gm container of dukkah - $29.00
• Large Gift Pack: 1 x 250ml bottle of your choice, a 200 gm jar of olives and a 60 gm container of dukkah - $37.00

Olive Oil Variety Tasting Notes

Leccino (Italy)

• A popular Italian olive.
• This year the oil is quite robust with a ripe banana flavour finishing with a strong peppery finish.
• Excellent with dukkah, drizzled over salads and for cooking with strong food like red meats and venison
• Silver medal winner NZ Gourmet Oil Competition 2009
  
• To order please click here

Tuscan Blend (Italy) - ONZ Certified - click here for more information

• A blend of three popular Italian varieties - Leccino, Pendolino and Frantoio.
  
• This is only blend that River Estate does regularly, due its popular demand.
  
• Represents a good European flavour.
  
• This oil is very smooth with ripe fruit following through a hint of banana with a gentle peppery aftertaste.
  
• Excellent with dukkah, drizzled over salads and for cooking with red meats.
  
• SILVER medal winner OlivesNZ Awards 2009, 2008
  
• To order please click here

Koroneiki (Greece) ONZ Certified - click here for more information

• A Greek variety that produces very small fruit that is difficult to pick. They struggled to ripen, very late this season.
  
• This year the oil is ripe fruity with a very pleasant taste on the palate finishing with a smooth pleasant finish.
  
• Recommended for dipping, drizzling over salads and cooking with delicate foods like chicken and fish.
  
• A extremely popular oil
  
• Royal New Zealand Show - Bronze medal winner 2008, Bronze medal winner 2006
  
• To order please click here
  

Picual (Spain) - ONZ Certified - click here for more information

• Bronze medal winner in the New Zealand Gourmet Oil Competition 2008 and 2007.
• A popular Spanish variety that is usually late to ripen.
  
• This year it is very strong, with a combination of grassy, green
  fruit and peppers favour, finishing with a gentle pungency and a
  robust peppery finish
  
• Recommended for dipping, drizzling over salads and cooking with strong flavours like red meat and venison.
  
• To order please click here

Frantoio (Italy) - ONZ Certified - click here for more information

• A very popular Italian variety.
  
• The oil is slightly stronger with a pear and sweet banana finishing with a smooth grassy soft peppery finish.
  Excellent for dukkah, dipping bread and cooking with both delicate flavours like fish and chicken and stronger red meats.
  
• An extremely popular oil which is pleasant on the palate
  
• Royal Show Silver medal winner 2007, GOLD medal and BEST IN CLASS winner OlivesNZ Awards 2009
  
• To order please click here
  

Pendolino (Italy)

• An Italian variety that is used to promote pollination.
  
• This oil was deliberately picked early in 2009 to enhance the oil’s characteristic. It will be found complementing the River Estate Tuscan Blend oil.
  
• It is a very smooth and robust oil with green banana flavours, finishing with a very fruity after taste and a hint of pepper.
  
• Recommended for dipping, drizzling over salads and cooking with red meats, and venison.
  
• This variety is generally not promoted and sold as a stand-alone oil, but is available on request
  

Chemlali (North Africa)

• A North African variety originating from Algeria, which produces very small fruit.
  
• Not available this year due birds devastating the crop
  
• Silver medal winner 2008, Bronze medal winner 2006

Picholene (France)

• A subtle tasting French oil
• Not available 2009 due extensive frost damage

Table Olives
A jar of Olives is $8.00 for 200 grams of net drained weight. These olives are bottled in a white vinegar and sea salt solution and have sweet succulent taste.

At River Estate we grow the following varieties of table olives:

River Estate Dukkah
Dukkah originates from an old traditional Middle Eastern food. It was developed by camel drivers after the day's journey, roasting nuts, spices and seeds, then crushing and eating with bread lavishly dipped in olive oil. It is also known as Zatar amongst some Middle Eastern countries.

River Estate Dukkah will give you a new total taste experience as all the different nuts, spices and seeds flavours vibrantly excite taste buds when you dip your favorite bread in River Estate Extra Virgin olive oil and Dukkah. What makes River Estate Dukkah unique is the very low level of salt in our dukkah mix with no added preservatives or anti -caking agents.

However, Dukkah is not just limited to dipping with olive oil and bread. It has many other uses like sprinkling on salads, soups and most meats and fish when cooking. It can be placed in pita bread and used when stuffing meat fillets.

Our Dukkah has been rigorously tested for 12 months alongside our olive oil tastings. The results have been overwhelmingly positive, with comments like; "this the best Dukkah I have ever tried" and "When can we get it? The sooner the better!"

River Estate Dukkah is available in 60g containers with an airtight screw top lid. After every indulgence it is strongly recommended that the lid be replaced firmly, to maintain the quality of the dukkah.

Cost is $8.00 for 60g container. Contact us for ordering.

Customers can now make up a gift pack from our selection of River Estate Extra Virgin olive oils, Table olives and Dukkah.

2009 notes

Winter of 2008 started the season off with half the annual rainfall falling in the three months of June, July and August. Fortunately the trees seemed to cope with 68 out of 92 days of rain.

Warm spring temperatures meant some trees started to flower early. Overall, flowering was light but resulted in a reasonable fruit set.

Very high humidity in early summer caused concern again this season, as it is a catalyst for disease in the trees. There was inconsistent low rainfall and when it finally arrived in early March ripening slowed considerably.

By end of March the Italian varieties fruit had rapidly changed colour and ripened very quickly again this season. With more rain and lack of sunshine and heat, overall ripening slowed down even more.

Extremely frequent and heavy frosts arrived early this season. Koroneiki in the valley were damaged quite severely, as the frost couldn’t escape easily. We selectively harvested trees to ensure top quality fruit.

All oil-producing trees were harvested using a mechanical tree shaker this season, so we were able to pick one variety in a day. The tree shaker gets between 70-80% of the fruit off, meaning what remains behind becomes a bonus for the birds.

We picked 12 tonnes this year with an estimation of 2 tonnes left for our friends, the birds. They arrived in March; very early for their winter ration of ‘the good oil’. Though our tonnage was down, we had very high yields this year, which means that our quantities of oil are very similar to last season’s.

Leccino and Frantoio performed well in both yield and quantity to produce excellent oil. Koroneiki is very smooth and fruity. Picual is consistent with last season’s bronze award, with less volume.
Our very popular Chemlali is unavailable this year, as the birds demolished most of the crop.

1/4 tonne was hand picked for table olives.
We have selected Picual as the main table olive this year, with some Manzanillo to complement them.
Kalamata suffered again, with only 6 fruits from 20 trees maturing - they seem unsuitable for Auckland’s climate.

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